128 ABORIGINAL POTTERY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES [eth.asx.20 



dwellino- sites, aud associated with remains and relics of tlie most 

 remarkable kind," is extremely simple in style, hardly excellino- in its 

 plastic and g-j-aphic features the gourd and wooden vessels found in 

 such profusion in the muck-filled canals and, in many cases, it appears 

 to be modeled in imitation of these vessels. It does not differ in kind 

 from the ordinary West Florida ware, however, which indicates the 

 practical identity of the Pile-dwellers with other occupants of the 

 region in time and culture. 



Somewhat common in the western and northwestern peninsular 

 region is another variety- of decorative treatment related to the deli- 

 cate engraved work described above, l)ut contrasting" strongly with it. 

 The designs in cases duplicate the peculiar scroll work of the Moljile- 

 Pensacola district, and again are somewhat like the Tarpon Springs 

 scroll v.ork. The main peculiarity is that the lines are wide and are 

 deeply incised, as is shown in i)late cxa, 7>. /:: In ?/, which is part of a 

 large globular bowl, the figures are outlined in deep, clean lines, and 

 some of the spaces are filled in with stamped patterns consisting- of 

 small checks, giving very pleasing results. In t/ and c some of the 

 spaces are filled in with indentations made with a sharp point. Han- 

 dled vessels — dippers, cups, and pots — are common, and it is not unu- 

 sual to see the rim of a pot set with four or eight handles; t' illustrates 

 this feature and also a treatment of the scroll much like that preva- 

 lent farther up the west coast. There are traces along this coast of 

 rather pronounced variations in composition, shape, and decoration. 

 A number of sherds illustrating the varied decorative effects produced 

 by pinching- with the finger nails are illustrated in/', f/, and /(. 



ANIMAL FIGURES 



It is not uncommon to find in many parts of Florida, and especially 

 along the Gulf coast, portions of fairly well modeled animal fig-ui-es, 

 mostly only heads, which originally formed parts of bowls and other 

 vessels. These correspond very closely with similar work in the West, 

 and are almost duplications of the heads found in the Pensacola region. 

 The detached heads have been found as far south as Goodland point, 

 San Marco island, where Mr Moore picked up two specimens that had 

 evidently been made use of as pendants, probably on account of some 

 totemic or other significance attached to them. Mr Gushing also found 

 one of these bird-head amulets in the canal deposits at San Marco. 

 All are of western types, and may have Ijeen brought from north of 

 the Gulf. On the whole, the employment of animal figures in the 

 art of Florida, as well as of the Atlantic coast farther north, seems 

 a late innovation, and tlie practice of embellishing vessels with these 

 features has probably, in a large measure, crept in from the West. 



n dishing. F. H., Expldi-ation i<t aiiok-nt key-dweller remains, Proceedings of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society, vol. xxxv. 



